The Saw Swee Hock Student Centre in central London, designed by Irish architect O’Donnell + Tuomey and built by Osborne Construction, beat off competition from high-profile projects including the Shard and the London Aquatics Centre to win two 2014 RIBA awards for Central London Project of the Year and London Building of the Year.
Completed earlier this year on the London School of Economics’ (LSE) historic Aldwych campus, the seven-storey building is characterised by its irregular faceted facades, built in red brick, a design generated by the geometries of the confined corner site.
LSE’s demanding brief asked for nothing less than the “best student building in the UK” and targeted a BREEAM “excellent” rating. The finished design managed to achieve BREEAM “outstanding”.
Graham Potts, Osborne project manager, said: “We are thrilled to have won these awards. Winning is testament to the immense effort construct the building by Osborne with the input from the rest of our partners.”
The centre accommodates an events venue, bar, cafe, gym and dance studios, prayer rooms and offices on a series of irregular floor plates that differ in shape and size on each floor. Angular stairwells are located at three corners of the building, with a main concrete spiral staircase near the entrance, which architect John Tuomey has likened to a “baby elephant”.
The interiors are designed to resemble a “lived-in warehouse”, expressed in rough-hewn materials including hand-made brick, vitreous enamel, oak, terrazzo, and very rough exposed concrete. The super structure is a combination of exposed reinforced concrete and steelwork. Steel trusses or ribbed concrete slabs span several large open spaces, and circular steel columns can be seen propping up the office floors and punctuating the open floor plan of the cafe.
The brick facades were constructed using a typical flemish bond, which in some areas forms solid walls, and in others creates perforated screens across windows.
Clockwise from top left: The building occupies a confined corner site on LSE’s Aldwych campus; the brick facades are constructed from flemish bond, which in some areas creates perforated screens across windows; floor plates are irregular and differ in shape and size on each floor; the interiors are designed to resemble a “lived-in warehouse”.
